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Ralph speaks to law professor, Barbara McQuade, who specializes in national security issues and has written a book that outlines the very real threat to American democracy, \u201cAttack From Within:\xa0How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America.\u201d Also, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson sums up Israeli goals in its war on the Palestinians with three words\xa0\u201ceradication, elimination, and expulsion.\u201d

Barbara McQuade is a professor from practice at Michigan Law School. Her interests include criminal law, criminal procedure, national security, data privacy, and civil rights. From 2010 to 2017, Professor McQuade served as the US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. As US attorney, she oversaw cases involving public corruption, terrorism, corporate fraud, theft of trade secrets, civil rights, and health care fraud, among others. She also serves as a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. Barbara McQuade is the author of Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America.

I think people are still bewildered about how to respond to Donald Trump. I think the media is bewildered because we've never seen anything like him\u2014he's an absolute disruptor of how our system works. And so, he's a big bully who runs around and says all kinds of mean things and nobody knows how to deal with it. I think the media still struggles to decide how do you cover someone\u2014when we've been trained to get both sides of an argument which presumes that both sides are engaging in good faith\u2014when instead you have someone who is not engaging in good faith, engaging in lies, making inconsistent statements.

Barbara McQuade

We need to demand truth. We can't allow ourselves to engage in fiction, even if we believe it is to advance our ends. The ends can never justify the means. Our country is built on integrity in the rule of law and we need to demand truth if we are going to have a democracy and effective self-government.

Barbara McQuade

You don't want to go down in the mud with people. But when the national press begins and continues to be [Trump\u2019s] bullhorn, verbatim, repeating it, repeating it, giving no right of reply, there's no way you can simply say, \u201cI don't want to go to his level,\u201d because the press has raised it to a level that is devastating to our democracy.

Ralph Nader

Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired U.S. Army colonel. Over his 31 years of service, Colonel Wilkerson served as Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2005, and Special Assistant to General Powell when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993. Colonel Wilkerson also served as Deputy Director and Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia, and for fifteen years he was the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network, senior advisor to the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and co-founder of the All-Volunteer Force Forum.\xa0

The media is an Israeli agent when they do give some kind of deference to \u201cthe other side,\u201d as it were, it's always in words and terminology and short sentences that make you know that \u201cthey are balanced.\u201d \u201cThey are fair and balanced.\u201d They're about as fair and balanced as my left foot. That's the way it is. The purpose here is eradication, elimination, or expulsion, period. Eradication, elimination, or expulsion.

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson

We all need to wake up, and we need to start taking actions such as we can locally\u2014whatever's within our purview and power to do. Because we're losing this country. We're losing it to the moneyed oligarchy. We're losing it to the unprecedented amount of money, because of Citizens United, that's pouring into the political coffers of people who have no interest in what you want\u2026These people are basing their decisions on money. Money\u2014not you. They're not the people's representatives\u2026 They're the representatives of the deep state, which is the oligarchy.\xa0

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson

It's all these people with these unprecedented amounts of money who can influence anything, anytime they want to with a few telephone calls. That's what's running your country. And the predatory capitalism that they're advancing is running the world into the ground.

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson

In Case You Haven\u2019t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

News 3/6/24

1. Just before the Michigan primary, President Biden implied that a ceasefire in Gaza was imminent. However, many believed at the time that Biden was simply trying to blunt the potency of the \u201cUncommitted\u201d vote in that contest. The promised ceasefire never materialized, apparently confirming those suspicions. Yet, with \u201cUncommitted\u201d winning over 100,000 votes in Michigan, the administration has begun using ceasefire language \u2013 a major rhetorical shift, but seemingly one without much corresponding action. Phyllis Bennis, writing in Al Jazeera, argues that \u201cWhatever the language of Washington\u2019s proposed UN Security Council resolution and likely the possible temporary truce deal as well, the words of National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby continue to resonate as a better reflection of the Biden administration\u2019s policy: \u2018We\u2019re going to continue to support Israel\u2026 and we\u2019re going to continue to make sure they have the tools and the capabilities to do that.\u2019\u201d

2. Following the self immolation of Aaron Bushnell, activist Talia Jane has shared a letter from active duty U.S. Military personnel calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. In this letter, the anonymous signatories write \u201cit is undeniably evident that the Israeli Defense Forces are repeatedly and systematically committing war crimes in Gaza. Support for the conduct of the IDF is unacceptable and inconsistent with our values in the US Armed forces.\u201d Talia Jane reports that \u201cover 100 active duty military across Air Force, Navy, Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, as well as reservists and National Guard, and their families, have endorsed this open letter.\u201d

3. J Street, the preeminent liberal Zionist group, has finally begun using the word ceasefire \u2013 while still only supporting a temporary truce. In a note to their members, J Street wrote "This move is not a change in policy. It is a decision to begin using a word that is fraught with meaning and implications in the context of the Gaza War," Daniel Marans of the Huffington Post reports. J Street has deep ties to the administration, so whether they are taking their cues from the administration in characterizing a temporary truce as a ceasefire \u2013 or vice versa \u2013 it is significant that this is the new line from mainstream liberal Zionists.

4. Max Tani of Semafor reports that the NewsGuild of New York has sent a letter to the New York Times accusing the \u2018Grey Lady\u2019 of racially profiling their staff as they seek to hunt down the source of a leak exposing their shoddy \u2013 possibly completely false \u2013 reporting on sexual violence committed by Hamas. Per the letter, \u201cManagement\u2019s investigators have questioned employees about their involvement in The Times\u2019 internal Middle Eastern and North African Times Employee Resource Group (known as the MENA Collective), ordered them to hand over the names of all of the MENA Collective\u2019s active members involved in group discussions, and demanded copies of personal communications between colleagues about their shared workplace concerns\u2026The Guild intends to vigorously defend our members and their rights, and ensure that all our members are protected in a workplace free from harassment and racial profiling.\u201d

5. According to NBC News, \u201cThe biggest labor union in Washington state endorsed voting \u2018uncommitted\u2019 in the state\u2019s Democratic presidential primary next month, citing concerns about President Joe Biden\u2019s political strength and his support for Israel\u2019s war in Gaza.\u201d\xa0 UFCW Local 3000 has over 50,000 members, making it the largest state chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. NBC also reports that \u201cThe Stranger, a prominent alt-weekly publication based in Seattle, also endorsed the idea of voting \u2018uncommitted,\u2019 expressing disappointment in the options of\xa0 Trump and Biden, whom it referred to as the \u2018two genocidal geriatrics leading the polls.\u2019\u201d

6. Amid humiliatingly low poll numbers, Democratic-turned-Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema has dropped out of the 2024 Arizona Senate race, the Arizona Republic reports. Senator Sinema, you will not be missed.

7. In Manhattan, over two-thirds of houses sold last quarter were purchased in cash, rather than via mortgage, per the Financial Times. In other words, the preponderance of homes were purchased by the very rich. Pamela Liebman, the chief executive of real estate brokerage firm Corcoran, told the paper \u201cHigh mortgage rates are creating a real void for people who don\u2019t have the strong finances that are required to buy in cash\u2026It\u2019s driving people who would be home buyers in New York into renting.\u201d This piece further notes that \u201crents rose to an all-time median high of $3,950 [per month].\u201d

8. West Virginia News reports \u201cKroger union members have voted in favor of authorizing a strike at 38 stores in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio.\u201d As this piece notes, this vote gives the bargaining committee authorization to call a strike at any time, but the workers are not currently on strike. In a statement, UFCW Local 400 said \u201cThis vote has sent a powerful message to Kroger that they must do better if they expect us to ratify a contract\u2026Now, we are ready to sit down with the company and negotiate an agreement that we can recommend for ratification. If not, we are ready to continue to do whatever it takes to get a fair contract. By sticking together, we will win.\u201d

9. Family Dollar has been hit with a $42 million fine in a food safety case after the company was found to have been \u201cstoring food, drugs, and cosmetics in a rodent-infested warehouse in Arkansas,\u201d according to More Perfect Union. An FDA investigation revealed \u201clive rodents, dead and decaying rodents, rodent feces, urine, and odors, and evidence of gnawing and nesting throughout the facility.\u201d Family Dollar had been aware of the infestation since 2020, and continued shipping merchandise \u2013 often eaten into by the rodents \u2013 to 404 stores throughout the region. This is the largest ever criminal fine in a food safety case.

10. Finally, on February 27th MyHighPlains.com reported that a nuclear weapons factory in Texas was forced to cease operations in light of the state\u2019s massive wildfires. According to Hans Kristensen, Director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists, \u201cThis is America\u2019s main nuclear weapons factory. Nearly 20,000 plutonium cores are stored there [and] full-scale production of B61-12 bomb & W88 Alt370 warheads are underway.\u201d While this critical situation was resolved without injury, it highlights the interrelation between climate change and national security. We urge military and civilian leadership to view this near-miss as a chance to finally take the climate crisis seriously.

This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard.

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